My copy of Groom Lake had been at my doorstep yesterday afternoon. I didn't anticipate much from a self-published fiction but I sometime fall prey to smart advertising and had paid the money so I started reading it around six and finished it this morning just before two. Go into it with low expectations, it's not bad, and if you know the LA area and Joshua Tree it's fun. If you recall that Burbank, specifically the Bob Hope Airport, was the original Lockheed "Area 51" then the shipping address is a neat part of the ploy.

Anyway, I check the logs for smithvoice and know when Marshall and Johnson are peeking (Al Razaq... got ya), but don't scan enough to notice when a local drops by. This morning I was walking home from Peets on Ventura and a non-spacenut acquaintance happened up to me and said with a smile "So do you feel a little silly about pushing Phobos Grunt?"

I had to say it... "Did you read Groom Lake? What'd you think of Desmond?" :)

Seriously though.  Phobos Grunt was and is an interesting project on many late-night what-if bull session levels.